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Water deficit is an important factor limiting crop production worldwide. Drought stress can be managed by improving the availability of soil moisture conserved and selecting drought tolerant genotypes. Several physiological indices including stomatal conductance (Kl), relative water content (RWC), leaf temperature (Tl) and crop temperature stability (CTS) along with yield, its components and seed glucosinolate content were measured in five oilseed rape genotypes of Brassica napus L. (Talayeh, Fornax, Okapi, Regent Cobra and SLM046) under non-stress and water deficit conditions imposed from late flowering (80% flowering) to maturity in a loam soil at the Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources of East Azarbaijan, Iran (462E, 3758N) over two successive years (2001-2003). According to the significant decrease of Kl and RWC and significant increase of Tl caused by water deficit in both years, it seems that, these indices could reflect the drought effects occurring from late flowering in oilseed rape crops. Kl and Tl values also differed significantly among genotypes and therefore these indices could be used to screen oilseed rape genotypes for tolerance against late season drought. Water deficit significantly decreased the number of pods per plant and seed yield in Talayeh and Fornax. Significant positive correlation was observed between these traits during both years (r=0.88 and 0.89, respectively). It seems that when water deficit occurs from late flowering, decreased seed yield mainly via decreasing number of pods per plant is observed in oilseed rape. Okapi and SLM046 showed lower Tl value (30.6 and 29.7C, respectively), a higher Kl value (0.350 and 0.355 cm s-1 respectively) and seed yield (5,241 and 5,245 Kg ha-1, respectively) under the water deficit condition. Okapi and SLM046 are therefore more suitable for cultivating in areas with late season water deficit stress.

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In order to evaluate the physiological indices in relation to the screening of spring safflower genotypes for drought tolerance and productivity, seed and oil yields and yield components were measured for five genotypes including Local Arak, Local Esfahan, Sina, KH23 – 57 and Goldasht. The study was conducted in a loam soil in East Azarbaijan, Iran, during three successive years (2005-2007). Water treatments consisted of non-stressed and water deficit imposed from flowering (80% flowering) to maturity. Several physiological indices including relative water content (RWC), stomatal conductance (Kl), leaf temperature, osmotic adjustment, and specific leaf weight (SLW) were measured. Considering the significant decrease of seeds in capitulum, 1000 seeds weight, harvest index (HI), seed and oil yields due to water deficit, it seems that drought decreased seed and oil yields mainly via declining these components of yield. Since RWC and Kl decreased and leaf temperature, osmotic adjustment, and SLW were increased significantly by water deficit, therefore these indices could reflect the stress effects during seed filling period. Among RWC, Kl, leaf temperature and osmotic adjustment, significant correlations were seen. Also significant positive correlations were found among Kl, RWC and SLW with seed and oil yield. Screening spring safflower genotypes by the abovementioned characteristics may lead to economically acceptable yields under water deficit condition. Among the genotypes, Goldasht, with 1,412 and 358 kg ha-1 seed and oil yields, respectively, had the lowest yield, associated with lower values of RWC, Kl and osmotic adjustment. Other genotypes had similar seed and oil yields, while Local Arak had the higher amounts of seed and oil yields, associated with higher values of RWC, Kl and osmotic adjustment. It is concluded that Local Esfahan, Sina, KH23-57, and especially Local Arak genotypes, can be used for cultivation in Khosro Shahr and areas with similar climate (cold and semi-arid in Koppen climate classification) under normal and late season drought conditions.

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One of the important aspects which may affect the seismic response of gravity dams is dam-reservoir-foundation interaction. The dam-reservoir interaction must be taken into account, since the dam undergoes deformation which influences the motion of water in the reservoir. Due to the complexity of a dam­reservoir-foundation system, the finite element method is an efficient tool for studying the dynamic response of such a system not only due to the complicated geometry of the dam-reservoir-foundation system but also due to the mechanism of incident earthquake waves and different boundary conditions which can be simulated more appropriately. In order to seismic analysis of gravity dams, a computational procedure for two-dimensional finite-element analysis of dam­reservoir­foundation systems subjected to seismic excitations is developed using Ansys software in this research. Water is assumed as a compressible, inviscid fluid with small amplitude displacements and the dam is modeled as an elastic solid. The analysis is carried out in time domain considering dynamic excitations. Newmark time integration scheme is developed to solve the time­discretized equations which are an unconditionally stable implicit method. An application of the procedure to a study of the seismic optimization of concrete gravity dams using hydrodynamic isolation layer under horizontal and vertical ground motions is presented and discussed. In this study, the hydrodynamic isolation layer is used for the geometry and seismic optimization of concrete gravity dams. For this purpose, the volume of dam body is considered as the objective function and constraints of various geometrical and structural behaviors in order to optimize the concrete gravity dam under seismic loading. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed numerical model, the response of Koyna dam in India due to Taft ground motion is presented as a case study to show the hydrodynamic isolation effects on seismic optimization of concrete gravity dams. The model was analyzed and compared for the cases in which the isolation layer attached along the upstream face of dam for different conditions. Consider to obtained results, it is revealed that the isolation layer can have the reducing effect on responses of dam model because of damping the induced hydrodynamic pressure due to earthquake. The layer reduces the dam response due to the hydrodynamics effect of the reservoir in essentially two different ways: (a) the layer serves as a boundary for the reservoir with a low reflection coefficient which results in reduction in the developed hydrodynamic pressure in the reservoir compared with the case of a completely reflective boundary. This effect was addressed in the previous part of the theoretical solution excluding the layer's isolation effects. (b) the isolation of the dam from the hydrodynamic pressure is the result of the layer thickness as well as its material properties which alter the amplitude of the transmitted pressure wave across the layer.

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Shelf life is the amount of time that corresponds to an acceptable reduction in food quality under certain conditions. This feature depends on various intrinsic and environmental factors such as the nature of the food, storage processes, coating and the type of packaging, and it affects the stability of the product. The ability to estimate shelf life is of considerable commercial value, but there is no reliable method for this purpose for fresh pistachios. The aim of this study was to create mathematical models to predict the shelf life of food, using Badami's fresh pistachio samples coated with chitosan edible coating in different concentrations (0, 1, and 1.5%) under three atmospheres including ambient atmospheric condition, passive MAP, and active MAP. The shelf life study was performed at 5°C and a multivariate prediction of instrumental and sensorial firmness was performed through kinetic models. In this study, fresh pistachios coated with 1.5% chitosan under active MAP had the highest estimated shelf life (86 days). Also, obtained models were able to estimate the softening time to the end-point of shelf life in different conditions of coating and packaging of fresh pistachios.

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One of the important aspects of food drying technology is studying the moisture and temperature changes during the drying process. The temperature changes of the sample are often evaluated by instruments such as thermocouples and thermometers. In this research, infrared thermography was implemented for evaluating the temperature changes during drying process. Experiments were performed for drying air temperature of 60 and 80 ^oC and temperature changes were measured with T-type thermocouples and infrared thermography. Also, moisture content of apple slice was measured during dying process. The result shows infrared thermography is a good instrument for recording the temperature changes without contact or destroying sample. evaluation drying curves shows, with increasing drying air temperature, heat and mass transfer process increase and drying times decreased consequently.

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Recently, the quality of powder product was considered in food industry. Foam mat drying is an economical alternative to spray, drum and freeze-drying for the production of food powders. The high porosity and surface-to-volume ratio of foams during foam-mat drying improve final product quality. In this work, foaming properties of white button mushroom(Agaricusbisporus) were analyzedby response surface methodology. For optimization,xanthan gum (XG)solution range was considered between 0.05–0.3% w/w, mushroom concentration (water: mushroom puree) range was considered 1:0.5– 1:3.5 w/w and whipping time range was considered between 2–8 min. Based on face centered central composite design (CCF),twenty tests were done. Analysis of variance showed that the quadratic modelshaveconsiderable effects on both responses.In this research, the optimized pointwasobtainedat xanthan gum solution 0.2% w/w, mushroom concentration (water:mushroom puree) = 1:2.2 and whipping time= 6.19 minand the predicted values for foam density and drainage volumewere0.56 gcm^-3 and 1.8 mL, respectively.At the second step, optimized foam dried at 50, 65 and 80°C and then drying behavior of optimized foam was investigated by different mathematical models. The results indicated that theMidilli model is high accurate model for evaluating the drying behavior of mushroom foam. At the third step, the influence of the drying temperatures on some qualitative characteristics of foam-matdried mushroom powder was investigated. It was found, as the temperature increased, water activity and water binding capacity decreased. Also, Lightness parameter for the temperature of 65°Cwas higher than other temperature.So, white button mushrooms can be processed into powder and used as a functional or nutritional addition in a variety of food products.
 

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One of the most important challenge about using anthocyanin, is its low stability, especially against light and heat condition. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to increase the stability of the anthocyanin extract of the saffron petal in thermal and light condition. To reach this goal, encapsulation is the common method. Optimization of the anthocyanin encapsulation by Arabic gum, Persian gum, whey protein and maltodextrin was conducted to investigate the thermal stability in the model drink. Anthocyanin half- life during heat treatment (at 90 °C) was 100.8 min, which became the base of the heat treatment for the model drinks. Among the different wall material used in encapsulating of the anthocyanin extract, the highest total anthocyanin content was related to the maltodextrin microcapsule (191.7 mg cyaniding 3- glycoside/ 100g saffron petal powder). After that, there were the samples with two-part wall that one was maltodextrin. The lowest total anthocyanin was related to the microcapsules containing gum Arabic. After applying the microcapsule to the model drink, the highest anthocyanin retained (63.55درصد) was related to the microcapsule containing the combined maltodextrin and whey protein concentrate (at ratio of 1:1). Therefore the protein wall had the more positive effect on the retention of the anthocyanin in the model drink during thermal treatments.

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Currency future contracts are agreements for purchasing and selling a determinate scale of an asset (foreign exchange) for the delivery in the designated future for a determinate price in the time of concluding contract. In this article, while clarifying structure and specifications of Currency future contracts in the capital market as well as necessity of its use and efficiency and venture of such contracts, we have tried to remove doubts on the validity of Currency future contracts in respect of their offer and validation. Foreign Currency Forward Contracts are agreements for purchasing and selling a determinate scale of an asset (foreign exchange) for the delivery in the designated future for a determinate price in the time of concluding contract. In this article, while clarifying structure and specifications of foreign currency forward contracts in the capital market as well as necessity of its use and efficiency and venture of such contracts, we have tried to remove doubts on the validity of foreign currency forward contracts in respect of their offer and validation.